Tata Group history is also the history of Indian industry

T.R. Doongaji hails from Nagpur, the place where Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata started his first venture, Empress Mills, in 1877. When he was around six years old, Doongaji's cousin would take him to the fire temple where, before entering, he would ask him to touch his head to a bust of “the founder” placed on a pedestal. “I did what he asked me to,” says Doongaji. “Today, I realise that my entire identity is this name.” A J.N. Tata scholar, he spent 52 years (42 in executive capacity) with Tata Group and was managing director in three group companies.A few years ago, some politicians in Nagpur wanted to rename the convocation hall of Nagpur University, the J.N. Tata Hall, to a local leader’s name. A friend from Nagpur called Doongaji, asking if he knew about it. Doongaji dug into the Tata Central Archives to see how the hall was given the name. “We found that the Empress Mills Nagpur had contributed to the funding of the hall, and we had the complete record. We recently won that case in the High Court. I will not allow anybody doing anything with Tata’s name or property,” says the proud Parsi.

Few companies command this kind of loyalty from its people. And, Doongaji attributes it to the leadership of Tata Group. “Between the founder and Cyrus [Mistry], there have been four chairmen—three were knighted and one is a Bharat Ratna,” says Doongaji. “How many groups can claim that quality of leadership?”

It all started when Jamsetji bought a ten-acre piece of marshy land from the Nagpur king and set up Empress Mills. (It was registered in Bombay in 1874 as Central India Spinning, Weaving and Manufacturing Company Limited. Jamsetji had started a trading company in 1868.)

Jamsetji did not want his employees to work in the squalid conditions that he had seen in Lancashire’s cotton mills. So, at Empress Mills, he ensured proper ventilation and had an apparatus installed for humidifying air. Sprinklers were installed to reduce damage by accidental fires. He also set up a provident fund scheme, the first of its kind in India, and an accident compensation fund.

When Jamsetji returned to Bombay, he had made enough money and he turned his attention to purchasing property. Soon, he became one of the wealthiest men in the country. He then began investing in the industrial future of India and drew up plans for many ambitious projects.During a visit to the US, at the behest of industrialist George Westinghouse, Jamsetji saw the hydroelectric project at the Niagara Falls. Jamsetji had been planning a hydroelectric project in India and the visit firmed up the decision. In the Lonavala and Khandala areas of the Western Ghats, which gets one of the heaviest rainfalls in the world and has the right kind of soil, valleys and slopes, he began the work for the Tata Hydroelectric Supply Company. Gigantic pipes forced water to the foot of the mountain at Khopoli, where at the power house, it would be converted into electrical energy. This project turned out be a game-changer, as it provided electricity to the growing city of Bombay.

Tata Hydroelectric Supply Company was registered as a public concern on November 7, 1910, and it commissioned the project on February 11, 1915, when Lord Willingdon, the governor of Bombay, inaugurated it. “Today, the major chunk of our power is being supplied to industries, hospitals and residences,” says Rajesh G. Naik, head of operations and maintenance, Tata Power. The total capacity of the plant is 447mw.

A big attraction at the project is the 14-acre garden in Lonavala. Jamsetji had a keen interest in gardens, and he brought home plants and seeds from all over the world. When the steel plant at Jamshedpur was being constructed, he wrote a detailed letter to his son, Dorabji, on the fast-growing variety of trees that he wanted him to plant on the site. Said Vivek Vishwasrao, head of biodiversity at Tata Power: “We fall in the northern part of the Western Ghats which is a major bio-diversity hotspot. Some of the species of plants, animals and birds found here are not found anywhere in the world.” Similarly, the beautiful Tata Baug, built in 1891 on 22 acres in Navsari, is maintained by Dr Rohinton Avari, who has a doctoral degree in landscape horticulture.

Jamsetji was an “omnivorous reader”, and a fan of Dickens and Thackeray. “He was fond of driving, a good judge of horseflesh, and duly proud of his well-bred Arabs, English Hackneys or Hungarians, and of his smart turnout. At times he enjoyed sailing and boating, and entertaining his friends at picnic parties,” writes Frank Harris in his book Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata: A Chronicle of His Life.

When it comes to 'firsts', however, Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata’s achievements stand out. From obtaining India’s first pilot's licence to starting the first cancer hospital in the country, J.R.D. Tata sowed the seeds for a better India. His father, R.D. Tata, was a nephew of Jamsetji's mother, and his mother, Suzanne Briere, a French citizen. He was born in Paris and spent his childhood in France. After his father's death, he succeeded him to become a director of Tata Sons at the age of 22.